17 March 2016 - A visit to Australia's new Parliament House

Todays Canberra site visit for us was Australia's new Parliament House, new from 1988 anyway.  We did a 30 minute tour to acquaint ourselves with the working of Parliament. 

After the underground car park the first thing we saw was the forecourt.

170316 From the entrance looking over the forecourt and old
Parliament House towards the Australian War Memorial

The entry vestibule is impressive containing marble from various European countries as well as from Australia.  This leads into the Great Hall which is located in the heart of the building beneath the flagpole.  The House of Representatives and the Senate Chambers radiate from the Great Hall.  As well there were other rooms, 4000 in all, which house committee rooms, parliamentary staff offices, Ministerial offices, media, service facilities, dining rooms, restaurants, a post office, galleries ......etc.  There are 4 km of corridors in the building.

170316 Entry foyer, marble from various places in Europe
signifying links to Europe/Britain

170316 The Great Hail with the 18mx9m tapestry based on Arthur
Boyd's painting.  The tapestry took two years to complete

170316 Arthur Boyd's painting above the foyer of Parliament House.
Note the cockatoo in the centre top.

We chose not to visit the House of Representatives during question time because of the large queue.  To give some perspective, 8000 people visited Parliament House yesterday.

There was however a place we could all visit from time to time, right in the middle of the building and under the flag pole, the Pool of Reflection. It is of black marble, highly polished, with a film of water covering it and overflowing along its edges.

170316 The Pool of Reflection immediately under the flag pole
on the top of Parliament House

While security was obvious, we did not feel pressured at any time and really were delighted at the freedom offered to all visitors.

The view from the top of the building was excellent, the converse of previous photos with us now looking back towards the Australian War Memorial.  One photo shows some people demonstrating for freedom on the lawn below Parliament House. We thought they had already achieved freedom with the right to demonstrate freely.  The flag on the top of the building is quite large, 12mx6m, about half the size of a tennis court.  The grass on the site, which reaches from the roof to the ground is green, oh so green, and quite lush.

170316 Old Parliament House with the Australian War Memorial
in the distance, taken from the roof of Parliament House

170316 As for the previous picture but capturing
groups of people demonstrating for "Freedom"

170316 Flag atop Parliament House

170316 Flag atop Parliament House

One thing we noticed was the number of people wearing identification passes providing access to certain areas.  The lobbyists must have been out in full force today and, of course, they would be worn by the thousands of people who work there.  Another was the large number of international visitors, from all corners of the globe.

A page of the Magna Carta 1297 is on show in Parliament House. The Magna Carta is heralded as the foundation document of parliamentary democracy.  Parliament House is the custodian of the only copy in the southern hemisphere.

170316 A page from the Magna Carta, the basis for democratic government

There were numerous paintings of previous Prime Ministers and dignitaries and several larger ones including Tom Robert's painting of the opening of the first Parliament in 1901 and Arthur Boyd's painting of the Australian bush, which is the origin of the 18mx9m tapestry in the Great Hall.

170316 Previous Governor General Quentin Bryce

170316 So many pictures of previous Prime Ministers
so we only picked one - John Howard

170316 Tom Robert's painting of the first sitting
 of Parliament in Australia 19001

We finished our visit with an enjoyable but late lunch at the Queens Terrace Cafe.

Maybe our politicians are spoiled having such wonderful facilities in which to work. Maybe we are too, having such a beautiful building of which we can be justifiably proud.